An in depth analytical look
at the real estate market
in Houston and surrounding areas.

Friday, March 3, 2017

Homes Inside Beltway Under 200k Coming to Houston

Texas homebuilder
Plantation Homes has launched a line of new home plans priced from the
$160,000s, according to the Houston Business Journal, which notes that the
figure is well below the average $280,000-plus price tag on a single-family
home in Houston.

The new line
features nine plan options that span 1,425 to 2,592 square feet across one or
two stories and are situated on 45-foot lots. Plantation Homes is currently
building a model home for the line within the Beltway 8 loop on the city’s northwest
side.

The decision by Plantation Homes to offer home options below
the $200,000 threshold comes as more builders turn their attention to the
demand potential in the entry-level market.

Atlanta-based homebuilder Ashton Woods is set to introduce
new-home communities aimed at entry-level buyers in Atlanta, central Florida,
Austin, TX, and Phoenix. That announcement followed the launch this past fall
of Meritage Homes' LiVE.NOW. brand and, more recently, Toll Brothers’ new
T|Select line.

Common features among these entry-level endeavors include
smaller footprints, energy-efficient construction and systems and a lower price
point. In many cases, they are marketed specifically at millennial buyers.

Plantation, Toll Brothers and Meritage all targeted Houston
with their lower-priced lines as that market was largely protected from the
housing bubble and so has recovered more quickly from the market’s crash while
retaining some measure of affordability.

In November, the National Association of Realtors noted that
first-time buyers, which underpin entry-level demand, accounted for 35% of home
sales last year, up from 32% in 2015 and the highest percentage since 2013.
Those under the age of 35 accounted for six in 10 first-time transactions in
2016,